Life's Funny That Way

Frustration

My main frustration right now is my dog.  We picked him up from the animal shelter about two months ago.  We knew he had a history of nipping at children.  Not knowing what happened in the home he was in since he was a pup, it’s hard to understand his behavior.  He is a one year old Rat Terrier.  They have a tendency to be possessive and territorial, as all dogs do to point.  But, from what I read about the breed, this is a common problem.  It is obvious that he has been beat, which I hate.  A dog should never be beat, in my opinion.  Correcting a dog means much more than hitting it. 

The one thing I do know about this dog’s behavior is that, when he nipped at the children of his former family, their solution was to muzzle him.  This, of course, does nothing to change the behavior of the dog.  I understand the need to protect the children, and all people involved.  I do believe in muzzles when they are also used with behavior correction.  This does not seem to be the case in my dog’s life, however.  It is obvious that he lacked a “pack leader” and, thus, took that position himself. 

He has become more “normal” in the two months we have had him, but he jumped at me again the other day.  He is very possessive of my boyfriend – that is his person.  He listens well to me, and also to my boyfriend.  They problem we have is in close interaction between the two of us.  The dog must have some sort of anxiety issues, and, because he is possessive, thinks I am either taking too much of my boyfriend’s attention, or hurting him in some way, or he’s hurting me.  The other day, though, we were both laughing, standing in the hallway.  I was trying to get to the door to our upstairs, and he was standing in front of me, tickling me.  So, this was a happy interaction.  The dog didn’t see it that way, though, and jumped up, grabbing (luckily, just) my shirt sleeve.  He growled and shook my sleeve in his mouth.  I “barked” my correction at him and he instantly knew he did something wrong.

My main problem is that he still randomly acts as though he’s going to be beat.  He is usually very happy to go outside, but, for about two days before he attacked me again, he would crouch on the floor and not go near the door, no matter how badly he had to “go.”  When I reached for him, he cowered away even more, thinking, I guess, that I was going to hurt him.

I’ve dealt with abused dogs in the past.  I’ve fixed chewing problems and digging problems.  I thought this was simple aggression, and that we had it under control.  Obviously, for one, it’s not under control.  For two, I think it is more than aggression.  I think it’s an anxiety, and I don’t know how to handle that.  I’ve even gone to the point of emailing Cesar Millan, the Dog Whisperer.  Of course, now that he’s incredibly famous, he is no longer accepting emails and, instead, his company directed me to buy all of his books and DVDs instead.  I guess some people just become all about the money eventually.  That’s sad, and so is the fact that, if I can’t get through to this dog – if I can never trust him – that he will not be part of my life much longer.  I feel very bad for him.  He’s not a bad dog and, most of the time, listens to our every command.  Yes, he still tests his place in the pack, if you will, but he backs down quite quickly.  I’m at a loss with what to do with this dog… and that is very frustrating to me.


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